The Strays
by blithemarie
Summary: After letting the stress of her parents' failed marriage and dream of Princeton University crush her, Annabeth lets herself go and loses control. She falls into depression and become's suicidal. When her parents give up, they send her to Sunnyside Reform Home. Where she happens to meet a brooding boy in a leather jacket, who's always glaring his piercing green eyes at her. AU.


**Hi guys. So I'm back with another story? This one _will _be a Percabeth, so yay! Anyway I'd be great if you could tell me how I did in the reviews, and follow and favorite if you liked it. Hope you enjoy. **

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_**Annabeth POV:**_

The yelling was ceaseless. My parents would not stop lashing at each other with possibly some of the most negative comments ever heard by mankind. The house would shudder with every single deafening retort and the windows would quake in utter fear. The whole entire morning was like this, filled with the blaming of whose child I was and who raised me to become an impolite imp and a hooligan with not enough decency to even respect her own parents, so on and so forth. My eardrums have been to hell and back, ringing while making me quiver in frustration. I couldn't help but bite my lip to relieve my stress and calm my nerves.

Troy Academy has generously granted me an expulsion from the entire district. Apparently graffiti and smoking was not permitted on campus. I had my reasons. My parents were never there for me, they were always too busy fighting each other to notice the crying child in the corner. I couldn't be the perfect child anymore. I couldn't follow my brother's footsteps and get into Princeton. I can't be valedictorian and keep on smiling at those teachers when all I wanted to do was yell. I couldn't stand up to the girls who tormented me for the sake of my record. I needed a way to vent and get rid of everything. I couldn't handle the pressure of everything all weighing down on my shoulders at once. It was simply sickening and overwhelming.

I felt as if a dark pit had engulfed me and that I kept falling deeper and deeper with no one to catch me and save me from myself. I cracked one night. Being high while depressed, _and_ at school is definitely not recommended. Given I was smart enough to do it after the gates were close, but I got ratted out. Once my _divorced_ parents found out that I was expelled, the horrid picture of my family became even worse.

Suddenly the door creaked wide open and the stern glare of my mother's piercing eyes looked back at me. She was dressed in her usual business attire, a short black skirt and a ruffled blouse draped withby a chic blazer, accompanied by a brief case and stilettos sharp enough to stab. Her perfect and precisely curled brunette locks brought out her startling stormy irises, against her pale skin.

While looking into her eyes I finally saw emotion, something that I've been longing to see in them for years. But it wasn't a particularly favorable emotion. Buried deep in her eyes I could see the disappoint and disgust she had felt for me, and her thinking how she raised such a monster. Her lips were pursed in disapproval, but at the moment I could care less.

"Come on, we're going.", she said coldly as her steely eyes looked into mine lifelessly.

I muttered back through the blare of , uncaring, "Where?"

"Just get in the car, Annabeth?" she replied back, sounding exhausted and sick of me as she walked away and the click of her heels shortly followed.

A commotion disturbed the silence, as the sounds of clanking filled the ambience after my mother's pumps quieted down. I could hear wheels screeching against the floor, as friction notably took place. Several zippers played a noisy symphony as trembling papers scattered onto the floor. My parent's arguing had dulled down to a slight nervous whisper towards the front door. My gut told me something wasn't right and my brain agreed completely. As I ran down the stairs, I saw my clean cut father in his dashing suit, tapping his foot impatiently.

He barked, "Hurry up, we don't hav-"

I cut him off frustrated much more than earlier when I saw the entire living room filled with a mess of documents and pieces of luggage, "What the hell is going on?"

My dad, lovingly dubbed as _Sperm Donor_, just frowned into the lines in his face, where several other frowns had resided. He just opened the door and pushed me out of the door and into the Mercedes.

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An hour had passed, as the car drove on the highway, speeding with the wind, and I soon I started to count all of the black cars beside ours. We dashed past the stunning greenery and the clear skies filled with air that's undoubtedly fresher than the polluted Los Angeles fumes. The luggage shook and staggered in the trunk, making the seat shudder in response. Cows were grazing the fields and I wrinkled my nose with my face pressed up against the window.

I sighed, kicking my feet against the seat and requested once more, "Where are we going? I mean it can't be one of those stupid surprise family road trips since we aren't even one-"

Sperm Donor calmly replied, not taking any of my behavior, "Annabeth, stop."

The Mercedes screeched to a sudden stop, and I just realized we had left the highway and entered a small town. Both of my parents doors slammed open and they started to unload the trunk, but I stayed in the car gaping through the window. The house we parked in front of wasn't that amazing, it was the sign sitting in the front lawn. _Sunnyside Juvenile and Mental Reform Home._

You've got to be kidding me.

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The sign crouched in a grassy front lawn of a large, old and colorful house, painted brightly in yellow messy streaks decorated blue trim and purple tiling, with a white fence surrounding the property. It looked like a unicorn and a mermaid's love child had vomited all over the residence. As I gaped at the house the very image of it tickled my brain and when I finally understood why, I groaned aloud.

It was constructed and painted to be a very duplicate of the house from Up. This was going to be a hell I had not even mentally prepared myself to deal with. You could here screams and shouts from the upper level of the house, between two teenagers, like me. My parents looked back at each other, as if asking one another if this really was a good idea. I kept ringing the doorbell but it seemed to be broken or nobody could hear me. My parents started to head back to the car.

"Frederick? Call them.", Mom called out to Dad as she decided to stand by me.

He nodded and flipped out his phone and began dialing. She looked back at me somewhat sympathetically and tried, at least I think, to comfort me, "Claire, this is only for a little while and remember call us whenever you want to talk. I'll miss you and this is hard for me too-"

This is hard for her? I couldn't help but laugh and snort back, "You're kidding right? Goddamn it, stop acting like you care. I bet you'll bringing plenty of _friends_ over to comfort you, and in no time you'll be all better without that burden that lived in your house called Annabeth."

She just parted her lips in shock and shook her head and turned around to face the door.

The door opened wide and a young blonde woman came out gasping, "Oh god!"

She then noticed us and let out a little shriek and muttered a quick apology. A mask of delight promptly appeared in her face and a brisk smile crept up on her face as she laughed lightly in a slight Valley accent, "You must be Annabeth! Oh you're going to have an amazing time here. It is such a renewing spiritual journey, believe me sweetheart."

My mother looked a bit uneasy as she handed me my bags and walked away dully and back into the car with Dad without muttering a word. I was alone. Well not really, since there was a happy blonde woman with plaited hair covered in pastel flowers, wearing bohemian clothing and a wide smile showing off her pearly whites. From the front door, I could dimly see the silhouette of a boy in a leather jacket and slicked back hair glaring his green eyes intimidatingly at me, daring me to come in. I dared

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**If you read this all, I'd love it if you told me how it was in the reviews. Thanks so much guys. Bye. **

**If you forgot me this was previously zia-phoenix-daughter-of-artemis and andria58. **


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